Babysitting "Hyper" Dog for friend tips please(Hunterwayit)

    • Gold Top Dog

    Babysitting "Hyper" Dog for friend tips please(Hunterwayit)

    Ok here is the story, I work with this girl and she is a really lovely chick that just needs a slight hand in life. She's in debt and struggles to survive with a pig of a bf. Well they have two cats and one dog(lab/pittie), and this weekend it's their one year anniversery.

    So she caught me at a weak moment and asked if I would take Crystal well they went away for a long weekend! So now I am stuck with a dog that has no manners and is really rough ie/ jumps on you. Just a down right rude dog, I am fairly certain all she needs is a bit of exercise, firm but kind guidence this chickie's bf is a bit hard on the dog often yelling and have seen him punch her. Trust me he knows what I think about this.

    But do you guys have an good pointers or things I could do/try with her. My dog has played with her before often she pesters him but he is pretty tolerant so he will come and lay by me to fight Crystal off poor pup. He is semi calmish but he is a fairly active dog so I could see these guys being complete muppets together!

     Come on guys give me some of your fantastic advise so I can have a perfect weekend with the pups hehe I am fairly certain there will be some madness but I don't think Crystal is a dumb dog I think she needs some proactive interaction not just being told to lay down and getting taken to the toilet

    • Gold Top Dog

    i would take her jogging.. or get her to play fetch, or tug (favourites of both labs and pitties everywhere!)

    once you get her all tuckered out i would work on some simple commands with her. go absolutely bananas when she sits on command. but also teach her and praise the crap out of her when she lies down or is quiet. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    Honestly, with a dog that is not walked or exercised on a regular basis, I think you will be suprised at just how well behaved Crystal will be with a simple walk in the morning.  

    My dogs get a fair amount of exercise but compared to Crusher's brother they get almost none.  So after one morning with Eclipse's routine, my dogs were crashed for 2 days.  And that was going from the regular morning and evening walks with some off leash running and playing to a hard harnessed run with a team of only about 35-40 minutes.

    If Crystal was exercised regularly and was still a rude dog, I'd say you were in trouble.  But by the sounds of it, it shouldn't be too hard.  Good Luck. 

    • Gold Top Dog

     i agree.. the rotti mix we got from my grandmother was a HARD dog to walk... it was more like a ... drag... or a yank... the actual walking part didnt happen until the walk was nearly over and he was too tired to bother pulling anymore. choke collars, harnesses, the Cesar Milan Power Walk did nothing for this dog.... he was just souped up and full of piss and vinegar.. literally...and he would bite out of frustration... i have an old sweater that is missing the armpit where he jumped up and grabbed it in sheer delight as i was trying to leash him...

    • Gold Top Dog

    Well today is day one she was s'posed to be dropped off last night but no instead I get a early morning arrival at 6.40am. Lovely so I thought a wise idea would be getting them on neutral ground and having a play together. We have a perfect area just up the road but it is unfenced. I just figured a 2 year old dog and her owner(the girls bf) would be able to do a little off leash well no Crystal has bad recall surprise surprise. So I have to put them in the backyard together with her with no exercise.

    Luckly all isn't going too badly but I tried to leave her outside well I went into feed the cats she pushes past me to get inside and jumps all over everything even over the coffee table this dog is hyper. Need to make sure she gets a good walk tonight I hope that will settle things down!!

     

    • Gold Top Dog

    She definitely needs excersize!  Probably some mental stimulation to.  Do you do clicker training at all?  I dog sit a huge, hyper, boxer/shepherd mix twice a week.  He really loves the clicker training, now I know I'm not going to be getting him all well mannerd in those two days a week, but that mental stimulation really engages him, which means instead of trying to amuse himself doing insane antics he's busy trying to earn a click and a treat.

    • Gold Top Dog

     I'm in the same boat.  I'm dog sitting a boxer/beagle mix that is soooooo hyper-jumping, running all the time.

    Here's how I handle it:

    I require him to sit and stay before putting his leash on for a walk.  If he won't sit still, I turn my back and wait for 30 seconds.  I repeat until I can get the behavior.  I do the same with treats.  We have a 2 minute practice/training session every night.  If he's in a sit, I request a down.  If he's jumping up and down or running around, I ignore him until he sits.

    The best thing is that Xerxes knows what's expected so that gives Thumper some guidance as to how to behave. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    So how did the night go? 

    • Gold Top Dog

     Yeah, how are things today?

    • Gold Top Dog

    Well she has gone home sorry for my delay on the updates I have been sick and don't have a computer at home. But I'd have to say it was an interesting weekend. But I think I did quite well with my 3 days with her.

    We established that furniture is not a jungle gym, did take a day(with a few mishaps) she even used to try and perch on the arm of the chair next to you.

    Exercise that was an interesting one! This dog can't lead and is major problem on the lead. I don't think I have ever seen anything like it. The first day of me walking her was horrible she went nuts at a woman with a pram walking across the road. Took all my strength to hold her then I made her sit. Which she did do but still made a hell of a racket even once she couldn't see the woman. So we moved in the back yard practicing our heel and sit, which she kinda got but she is just so strong and just wants to pull like a tank. There is no way in 3 days I could make a dent in this behaviour! So our last day together I practiced in the morning in the yard, then moved to my front yard so she would have distractions and then I was fooled as she was going quite nicely and thought I could progress further away from the yard but as soon as she stepped off the yard she reverted to pulling and basically being a mad dog. We also had a dog walking across the road which I did see before her so I made her sit, went smoothly till she saw the other dog and just went mad yet again even after the dog was out of sight!

    With my dog and cats. Well with Chip they both spent a lot of time playing on a whole it was normally fine but she did get on Chips nerves plus they both spent a lot of time trying to hump each other and get each other on the ground(which I am pleased to annouce Chip tried to be a man with this girl normally he is the bitch hehe). Also it was normally pretty full on so when play time was on it was outside I don't need my house broken to pieces by two large dogs. Crystal with the cats was not good considering she lives with cats at home, she chased them even though she did respond if called back. If she was outside and they happened to walk past the dog she would go nuts and jump all over the glass doors(nice paw marks everywhere!). I didn't bother too much trying to work on that cause I like my cats whole and just didn't have the trust in Crystal like I do with my own dog.

    But I wasn't too bad I have to say I am really disapointed that this dog is the way she is cause I do think she calmed down quite a lot over the weekend even though she never really got a good walk due to the leading problems. And I think she is quite smart just doesn't get the attention and work needed for her to be a nice dog.

    • Gold Top Dog

     Oh Thank Goodness!  I was afraid to post again for fear that she had eaten you!  LOL. 

    It's frustrating to have to send them back isn't it?  After the little window of success.  I have that problem everytime I see my niece's dog.  I just get him to listen to me a bit and then its time to say goodbye.  If I could just see him more often.  Maybe I could get him to a point where she would LIKE to take him places.  Ya know?  But everytime I see him again, we're back to square one. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    Yeah is hard when you see them again and they are back to naughty pup. I went over to their house last night and she was using the furniture as a jungle gym and just generally annoying the poor cat. I know I am not going to win any obedience awards with my dog but at least I care enough about my dog and guest/family to train him enough so he isn't a pain in the butt!